Sim Wong Hoo, a 67-year-old Singaporean inventor and technology veteran who started Creative Technology in 1981 and achieved global success with the Sound Blaster sound card for PCs, has passed away.
The billionaire entrepreneur served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company he founded that developed and produced a number of successful personal computer peripherals and digital entertainment devices, such as the Creative ZEN line of audio and media products. He passed away on January 4, 2023.
Mr. Sim, a graduate of Bukit Panjang Government High School and the Electrical & Electronic Engineering faculty of the then Ngee Ann Technical College (currently Ngee Ann Polytechnic) in 1975, was a pioneer in the implementation of sound cards as the default consumer audio standard in IBM PC machines, until the eventual incorporation of onboard audio electronics. In 1995, Sound Blaster cards accounted for seven of every ten sound cards sold globally, placing Singapore technology on the map.
Creative Technology, also known as Creative Labs in the United States, was one of the first firms to manufacture portable digital music players. In 2000, the company introduced the famous Creative NOMAD Jukebox, before the 2001 introduction of Apple's iconic iPod digital music player.
The NOMAD 6GB hard drive could hold hundreds of digital MP3 songs at a time when digital music files were scarce, but more crucially, the Jukebox provided audiophiles on the go equalization and spatialization settings.
Mr. Lee Kheng Nam, Lead Independent Non-Executive Director, and Mr. Ng Kai Wa, Independent Non-Executive Director, have been appointed as interim Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively, by the board of directors of Creative Technology.
Mr. Song Siow Hui, president of the Creative Labs business unit, has been designated interim chief executive officer by the board.
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